Through my fingers she slips
by PandoraNaflink
Summary: Ben and the gang find a strange girl from a Plumber's pod claiming to have amnesia, Kevin is convinced she's dangerous, but Gwen seems to create a friendship with the girl. Lil bit of Gwevin, in this story Gwen and Kevin are an item. Ben 10 Ultimate Alien
1. Crash landing

_Ben 10 Fan Fiction _

**[This story is set during Ultimate Alien just after the episode 'the eye of the beholder'] NOTE: I hadn't seen the first episode of season 2 when I first wrote this so didn't mean to steal any ideas.**

**Let's make this very clear that I do not own Ben 10, Man Of Action does. **

**Please enjoy, this involves a lot of characters that I created myself, I did not mean for Shea to be like Eunice, although if it helps you can imagine her looking a little like that. If you don't like, don't read! Duh!  
**

_Between my fingers she slips_

_Falling deeper and deeper into the Abyss_

_Can I save her? Will she fly?_

_Or will misery take her from me?_

A dull glum light set upon the velvet night sky of the city below, a lucky cluster of stars escaping their cloudy fate. Cool air whipped the hair of the unlucky few amongst the city buildings, window upon window glinting the scattered light of the moonlit rays.

The roar of an engine caused the birds to flap their wings prematurely, vacating their housing between the gutters of small cosy homes. The reek of burning rubber fills the air faster than a flame to oxygen. The screech of tyres against tarmac, and finally the steady bull-like breathing of two green and black gas guzzling machines ripping down the road at twice the speed limit.

Before a bystander can blink, they are gone. Vacated the city just like the birds, on their way down a dirt road to the nearby wilderness where one strange stray light in the night's sky has caught the attention of the eager teens awaiting inside the vehicles.

"The plumber's badge says that whatever is falling is gonna land somewhere in that tree break," Kevin spoke through the intercom to address Ben but also directly to Gwen who was sitting, arms folded in the front passenger seat. The redhead nodded her acknowledgment before focusing on the falling object, agitated that she wasn't able to identify the object in the sky. "I doubt it's big enough to be a crashing ship, it _feels _something like an escape pod." She spoke softly, more to herself, but Kevin and even Ben heard in the other vehicle adjacent from their own.

"Soon we'll find out what it really is and more importantly what's _inside _it." Ben's voice echoed through the intercom eerily.

"That is if there is anything in it." Gwen quickly added.

"Are we ever that lucky?" Kevin countered, his grip tightening on the wheel as the light faded into the incoming trees of the forest nearby. "Here we go," he spoke through gritted teeth, glancing at Gwen to make sure she had a steady hold on the side of the car.

It all happened so fast. A mushroom-like ploom of smoke rose high above the trees, mixing in with the navy wash of the night sky. Ben, Kevin and Gwen instantly tensed as a gust of dust filled wind ripped its way from the forest blowing fiercely at the vehicles from the impact of the crash.

"Okay, so it's a heavy object." Gwen muttered once the gust had faltered and vanished.

"Which probably means that there is something inside." Ben said; a slight tone of victory showing through the intercom.

The two cars skidded to a halt, coming to a stop just a few inches from the first line of trees. The three stood solemnly for a moment, staring up at the looming old oaks standing tall above them. "Well, let's go." Kevin said, making the first attempt at moving forward. Ben and Gwen caught up quickly as they walked in a perfect line, each wondering what could possibly be waiting for them in just a few moments.

Those moments of not knowing passed like an eternity until Ben spotted the first wispy line of smoke take to the trees above. Ben pointed silently as the three instantly tensed, making their way to unknown object as quietly and undetectable as possible.

As the three walked through the last crispy fire spurting break of trees, they saw the object. An oval shaped metal container, completely white except for a blue stripe painted around the side. It looked spotless, not one scratch or smear of dirt from the fall. It was in pristine condition which left the three open mouthed and confused. "I've seen that before..." Kevin said, surprising everyone as he made his way to the container. "Careful!" Gwen warned, "We don't know what's in that!"

Kevin stroked his chin for a few moments before startling Ben and Gwen by snapping his fingers, "I knew I'd seen this before, it's a plumber's pod!" Suddenly Kevin's grin faltered, "it's an escape pod, but whatever's in it isn't a plumber, this is for banishment purposes, sending criminals back to their home planets for their own police to decide what is to be done to them."

"Wait, does that mean the criminal in there is from Earth?" Ben asked, completely confused. Last time he checked, humans didn't even know that Plumbers existed let alone aliens.

Kevin shook his head, "it must have made a miscalculation, probably why it crashed."

Gwen came forward, eyes glowing a fluorescent pink, her hands sporting the same shade. "There's defiantly someone in there." She stated, "I can feel them breathing."

"Well then whatever we do we can't let it-" but before Kevin could finish a fresh white steam began to seep out from the middle of the container, a high pitched squeak rang in their ear drums as the container slowly opened revealing a white leather padding housed by what looked like a humanoid female. "...open." Kevin finished letting out a heavy sigh.

"Great," Ben muttered sarcastically.

The humanoid was pale, sporting long flowing blonde hair. Her eyes were closed and her lips were cracked. She wore a white linen shirt and a pair of navy skinny jeans, wearing a small pair of trainers on her feet. She had small supple features, her skin illuminating from the escaped rays of the full moon. She seemed around Ben and Gwen's age, her slight fingers cupping her right cheek as she seemed to sleep soundly.

"She must have been heavily sedated..." Kevin concluded, leaning over the girl for a better look.

Suddenly, surprising everyone to the extent that their hearts skipped a beat, the girl's eyes opened, an amazing crystal blue gazing up at Kevin's face. "What's going on? Where am I? Who are you? Who am _I?_" The girl's chest began to rise and fall, her voice high pitched and squeaky in a state of distress.

"Calm down, we're not going to hurt you... my name is Gwen, what's your name?" Gwen asked in her best motherly tone, the two boys looking at her in astonishment. The girl scratched the back of her head, twitching at the sound of Gwen's voice as if she hadn't heard anyone speak to her in years. She blinked hazily for a few moments looking out into space as if she were thinking. "I-It's... my name is... urm, I-uh, Shea, my name is Shea." She confirmed, nodding her head, "at least I think- no, no I'm sure my name's Shea. What's going on?"

The three exchanged looks before Ben and Gwen decided Kevin should explain considering he seemed to know so much, a question they would be asking him later.

"You crashed in the pod you're sitting in. It's a plumber's escape pod, set on a route to send you straight to your home planet which means you've been in trouble. Serious trouble." Kevin said, his eyes narrowing as he looked the girl up and down.

The girl just rubbed her head idly until the words sunk in properly. She blinked and rubbed her face, "I- I don't remember doing anything bad... then again I can't remember much..."

"The impact of the fall must have given you short term amnesia," Gwen clarified, holding her hand out for Shea to take. Her limbs were shaky as she attempted to stand up, but she finally managed.

"Do you know what planet you're from?" Ben asked.

"So I don't come from this one?" Shea asked; her eyes glassy as she looked around her surroundings.

"Well that's a no." Kevin snorted, locking his gaze with Shea's. "We should call the Plumbers, even if she can't remember who she is, as soon as she does she'll become a threat to us, otherwise she wouldn't have been in a Plumber's pod."

"Kevin!" Gwen hissed, putting her arm around Shea's slender shoulders as she stared wide eyed at Kevin. "Plumbers... Rontargh! Rontargh was... he was a Plumber too." Shea gasped clutching her chest.

"Easy, easy." Ben said, helping Gwen to calm down the girl. "Who was Rontargh to you?"

Shea shivered, scrunching up her face in disgust. "He was a horrible creature; he took me away from somewhere... I- I can't remember where, but there was this plastic cell and he was so angry... he-he told me I'd... my father, I would never be like my father." Her voice was shaking and she seemed to be visually getting paler, but nonetheless she managed to reach into her jeans pocket and withdraw a small piece of a Plumber's badge that was smashed and beyond use. "My father gave me this, but Rontargh was angry, he said I wasn't anything like my father and smashed it with his fist." Salt tears began to pool over her lids and run down her cheeks. "I wanted to be like my father."

Ben put his hand close to the piece of Plumber's badge, but hesitated seeing the state Shea was in. The blonde looked at what he was trying to do and nodded weakly, handing it over before turning to Gwen, the redhead, the only other girl and the one she trusted the most and cried onto her shoulder, tears staining her red shirt. Ben held the badge out to Kevin so he was able to see. "It looks real." Ben said slowly, "if she's telling the truth it means she's a Plumber's kid."

"It's obvious she's lying, a Plumber's kid wouldn't do something so devious they'd get in this kind of situation."

"Oh really?" Ben asked sarcastically looking at Kevin, obviously re-living the events of just a few months ago when Kevin had gone rouge for the second time in his life.

Kevin rolled his eyes, "fine, don't believe me, the girl can't be trusted!" he snarled, stalking over to Shea again, his eyes narrowing on her crumpled figure against Gwen's shoulder.

Gwen allowed herself the responsibility of helping Shea gain enough stability to become helpful once more. She took it upon herself to lead the pair away from the two boys, instructing them to double check; even triple check that the pod was in fact a Plumber's pod and look out for any Plumbers themselves.

Shea perched against Ben's car allowing the moonlight to shine against her cool, pale skin, however her stress seemed to cause a slight line of sweat against her brow. Gwen handed Shea a hair band, "why don't you tie your hair up? You look hot."

"H-How do I do that?" Shea trembled, prodding the hair band with her index finger.

Gwen rolled her eyes, "I'll do it for you." She smiled. She threaded her fingers through Shea's blonde locks, gently pulling it away from her neck and began to tie it up. Shea beamed at her and stroked the back of her neck, "Yes, that is much better." She smiled, "thank you very much Gwen."

Gwen nodded and shook her head, "It's fine," she hesitated a moment before carrying on, "do you remember anything else, about your father, about Rontargh, about the Plumbers?"

The blonde shrugged, playing with her ponytail, "my father was a good man, he passed on when I was young, but I learnt a lot from him... I fail to remember much of Rontargh, forgive my inconvenience." She sighed, tugging on her hair before slumping against the vehicle.

"It's fine, we can work on this." Gwen said, attempting to smile kindly to the girl.

"I-It's just so very frustrating not to remember anything, I mean I can only remember my father and a Plumber, but I don't know who Plumbers are, I don't even know if I have a mother!" Shea sighed in defeat, "It's like without my memories, I am alone."

"You're not alone," Gwen defended, "I don't believe that you're a bad person."

Shea sighed and looked down, "I don't even know what I am, where I'm from or how to get back. What if your boyfriend is right? What if I really am bad news?"

"Hey, he is not..." But Gwen stopped, relaxing to the reality, she patted Shea gently on the shoulder, "Trust me I think Kevin is wrong and I'm pretty sure that Ben believes in you too."

Shea shrugged, "is that really enough? Maybe you should hand me over to the Plumbers."

"No!" Gwen said fiercely regretting it instantly after seeing the pained look in Shea's eyes. "We're going to help you."

**First chapter, yay! :) If you enjoyed, then keep on reading, aha!**


	2. The fight

**:) Second installment I hope you enjoy, I DO NOT OWN BEN 10 Only my created characters such as Shea and the snake creatures, spoooky!**

**Chapter 2**

Gwen was just about calming Shea's nerves and ready to introduce her properly to the guys when something stopped her train of thought. Without their voices, everything was quiet. Not one bird song, not one _bird. _She glanced around a little more hunter-like. There were no animals hiding in trees, no heart beats of creatures even in the distance. That's when her thoughts trailed to Kevin and Ben. She could have sworn that before then she was able to hear their voices, but now everything was deadly silent. Eerie almost.

She turned to Shea, about to tell her that she was going back but she was to wait there. Something stopped her from doing that however. Shea's face was pale, her crystal blue eyes faded but wide, staring straight ahead as if something was standing in front of her. "Shea?" Gwen's voice snapped her out of it. She shook her head, ponytail whipping back and forth. "Sorry, I thought I felt something..." she said quietly, her voice coming out in a hoarse whisper.

Gwen was immediately concerned as she rushed to Shea's side, looking her up and down as if trying to find a physical fault. "What do you mean you felt something?"

Shea twitched, "It's quiet, but it's not supposed to be. Someone is manipulating the sound so we can't hear... so we can't fight." Her voice was choked now, as if the words didn't even belong to her anymore. Gwen shook her shoulders lightly, "Shea? What do you mean?"

Suddenly, Shea's neck clicked as she raised her head steadily. Gwen met a blank and somewhat creepy gaze from Shea, her eyes dull as if nothing was inside her anymore. "Ben and Kevin are in danger, they're looking for her but she's lost, she doesn't even know who she is." Her voice defiantly didn't belong to her any more. It sounded almost masculine, croaked, low and very scary. Gwen shivered as she spoke, "Shea, wake up Shea, I don't know what's going on, why are Ben and Kevin in danger?" Her heart felt like it had sunk into her stomach, her body was relying souly on adrenaline as she shook the poor blonde.

Suddenly, Shea blinked, her eyes returning to their vibrant sea blue. She shook herself mentally and physically and looked at the distraught Gwen. It felt like danger had pulsed into her mind since her strange, what she thought was a black-out. Suddenly, she felt a fierce shiver down her spine as she sucked in a deep breath of cool air almost choking on its way out. "Oh my God, Ben and Kevin!" She hissed, her body shifting into full motion as she ran forwards into the tree break. Gwen didn't hesitate in following, the two people she cared about the most were in those trees, and even though she always thought the two together were unstoppable, Shea had not helped in saying that they were in serious danger.

Gwen finally caught up with Shea and was about to ask her in her angriest of tone why she'd stopped if she had just said Ben and Kevin were in danger when Shea suddenly spun around and grabbed her by the arm dragging her to their left by a few feet. Gwen was about to question this action with the highest of ignorance when suddenly a large stone covered being was thrust into the tree they had been standing in front of only seconds ago. Gwen's eyes widened when she realised who the being was. Kevin stiffly got up from the tree shaking himself off. His hand formed into a medieval spiked weapon as he ran forward on a battle cry. Gwen ran out from behind the large oak providing the two girls sufficient protection to see who was hurting Kevin when she was pulled back again. "What?" she hissed to Shea who simply pointed to the exact same spot as Kevin hurtled into the broken tree which this time was unable to break his fall as he slammed into the tree behind that one. Gwen felt like screaming as she saw the now snapped tree fall to the ground. Kevin was struggling to get up this time and she knew where she was needed.

Standing besides Kevin and helping him up felt strange to Gwen considering she herself was such a lightweight when it came to fighting. "Kevin are you alright?" she asked, her voice reaching a high and squeaky state.

Kevin rubbed the back of his head, his stone protection fading from his body. "Great." He grunted sarcastically. His eyes moved straight to Shea who was standing wide eyed behind a tree, looking out to the offender. "It's all that girl's fault! They are after her for some reason." He growled almost advancing on her, ready to take her to the offenders. "Kevin!" Gwen hissed, her hands glowing bright pink as a force field stopped him from carrying on his task. "If someone is after her it's our duty to stop them, they're using violence which means they can't be good."

Kevin's hands balled into fists, "but she's no good either, why can't you listen?"

"Because I don't believe you, I'll admit she's strange but I need your help in finding out who she is, she is a Plumber's kid after all and no comments on the fact she could have stolen that broken badge!" Gwen's whisper had grown to a fully blown yell as she held Kevin in place with the sheer power of her voice. Kevin blinked twice before sighing and nodding, "fine,"

Suddenly Gwen's breath hitched and caught in her throat. Usually she wouldn't have worried where Ben was immediately concluding he would have been fighting as one of his aliens, but Shea's words still rang in her ears. "Where's Ben?" she asked quickly.

Kevin raised his eyebrows to the redhead. "Last time I saw, he was fighting them as Swamp Fire."

His hand pointed in the direction of all the action. Gwen nodded once before rushing out of the burning tree branch break, her heart skipping a beat at the sight before her.

There stood what seemed to be three large snakes with six muscular arms. Two of them were yellow and black striped, but the leader, wearing what appeared to be dark sunglasses was a deep blood red and black zigzagged across his entire body. They both towered over Gwen and were at least a foot larger than Kevin. Gwen felt as if she were nailed to the ground, her entire body paralyzed in fear. They were holding large level five alien weaponry, guns that were now shooting freely through Ben's Swamp Fire form. Swamp Fire was easily recovering from the shots, but his attempts at throwing fire was stopped by some kind of shield. Swamp Fire saw Gwen transfixed in what she saw. "Gwen!" he yelled, his deep voice taking her off guard, "do you think you can turn their shields down?" just to prove that he was unable to stop them, he let a vine from one of the trees shoot at the snakes only for it to disintegrate on contact with the strange dark force field.

Gwen nodded; this was no time to worry about Ben or even Kevin. She needed to do what was needed to be done to defeat the creatures that were going to take Shea away. She allowed her mana to overcome her as she closed her eyes. They reopened as large fluorescent orbs, her hands taking on the same shade. A stretch of pink light crept up to the force field the snakes were using, a flash of light appeared as if an electric surge had stopped the light from working. Gwen felt the pink light shatter, her stomach twisted into a knot of distress. Then she remembered how afraid Shea had been, how she had been so vacant only moments ago. Gwen had to find out the truth and for that to happen she had to defeat the snakes. She felt her mouth open, a cry of anguish escaping her lips as four threads of pink light escaped her hands wrapping around the shield over and over until a large bright light took over her vision. Kevin and Swamp Fire shielded their eyes as the snaps and cracks of the snake creature's force fields breaking echoed through the air. Soon everyone froze as a noise much like the shattering of glass rung in their ears, the force field dismantled and shut down much to the snake's dismay. Even the leader was no use to Swamp Fire's fire balls and vines twisting around their slimy tails.

Soon, Kevin joined in the action, pummelling the two yellow and black snakes with his medieval wrecking ball. Gwen couldn't help but smile when she heard the screams of the distressed snake creatures, but she couldn't care less. A distraught Shea was standing by the tree looking pale enough to faint by the action she was seeing.

Gwen broke into a run under the knowledge that Ben and Kevin had the attack covered. Shea didn't seem to notice Gwen coming towards her; instead her eyes seemed to change before an unaware Gwen. Gwen's step faltered as she saw Shea's eyes turn golden. Her entire body seemed to shift from the colours of her clothes, hair and skin to everything from her skin to the clothes on her back turning the brownish grey colour of the tree bark she was leaning against. Her glowing golden eyes seemed to vanish to Gwen's astonishment as she skidded to a halt no longer seeing Shea up ahead. "Had she just..." Gwen considered what she saw and was almost positive she'd never seen any alien camouflage themselves to an extent she couldn't even see them at all. Gwen reached her hands hesitantly out in front of her but to no avail, the body of Shea was no longer there which got her wondering, where had she gone?

The two yellow and black snakes had already fled, disappeared back to their ship through teleportation. Swamp Fire and Kevin were having fun throwing the reptile between them both like a massive ball until the creature finally had enough and stopped in between the two, his balled fists shaking in anger. "I _will _be back for the girl, none of you have any idea what she's capable of!" his voice was slurred and a loud hiss ruptured from his chest at the end of his sentence. "Oh we'll be ready, you just wait you big-" but before Kevin could finish his rant the snake had already vanished. Swamp Fire shrugged, the familiar green shade of the ultimatrix took hold as he was transformed back into Ben Tennyson. "What do you think he meant by the whole power she's capable of speech?" Ben asked, folding his arms as he looked over at Gwen who seemed to be wondering in circles searching for something. Kevin shrugged, "it doesn't matter, sooner or later we're handing over that girl to the Plumbers just as soon as we figure out what she does."

"You know she's not just a machine," Ben countered, rolling his eyes. "I'm pretty sure she's alive..." he trailed off suddenly realising why Gwen seemed to be searching. Shea was nowhere in sight.

Ben quickly joined Gwen as he looked around himself to check Shea wasn't hiding behind a tree or something, "Gwen, where's Shea?" he asked in his best professional tone.

"I'm really not sure, she vanished."

Kevin rolled his eyes, "where'd she go before you lost sight of her?"

"No!" Gwen yelled shaking her head, "I mean she literally vanished, she camouflaged in with her surroundings and disappeared I'm not sure where she is!"

Ben and Kevin nodded in a slight understanding on what was happening. Ben turned around to look, his eyes darting around as he stepped forward, "well she can't have gone-" but Ben was interrupted as his body collided with the camouflaged Shea. Both teens fell to the ground, Shea's camouflage draining from her body leaving her visible to everyone around her. "...far" Ben groaned, a dull pain setting in his head from the collision.

Shea too seemed to be rubbing her head in confusion. Her eyes darted to Ben then to Kevin and she finally rested her sight on to Gwen. She smiled at Gwen who smiled back.

Shea stood up shakily as the three tried to keep her steady. She looked at the three teens and sighed, "Thank you so much for what you did I really appreciate it," she smiled but it soon faltered leaving her looking drained and weak, "I seem to have remembered the defence mechanism of my species, it also is used for hunting and such." She swallowed the gathering saliva in her mouth, "the more I remember the more I fear you three will be put in danger, I seem to remember being in something bad and I now understand why Kevin was so willing on ridding of me. I believe it is for the best that you hand me over to the Plumbers before I remember what I was involved in and before I harm any of you."

"No!" Gwen insisted, "We are part of the Plumbers and our job is to protect, whatever you're involved in I'm sure when you regain your memory you'll have changed, you just- I, I don't believe you're bad."

"Believe in me all you like, I'd prefer to be in the hands of someone who will be able to handle me." Shea's voice cracked ever so slightly.

This time it was Ben who stepped in, "If you feel more comfortable in being handed over you can, but I doubt they'll be as nice as we were to you." Ben tried to play with the emotions of Shea, although he was starting to worry about how safe she really was however he knew that Shea seemed important to Gwen and Gwen had always been there for Ben. He'd been a jerk at times, but this was a way to pay Gwen back for all the times he messed up. It seemed to work as Shea idly rubbed her arm in distress, "you mean they aren't kind?"

Ben shrugged, "they're the good guys they'll see you as a bad guy, I think you're smart enough to see where that will lead."

Shea shivered and ducked her head low, a single tear escaping her lid. "I-I don't want to go there."

"Then we are going to help you!" Gwen smiled.

Shea nodded in response. Kevin rolled his eyes and looked away, "No way, are you serious? She's a danger to us all and you can't even understand it when she admits it herself!"

Ben narrowed his eyes on Kevin, "have you forgotten what are job is?"

"Beat up bad aliens?" Kevin grinned cockily.

"And help good ones, Shea is good, we can all see that." Ben said, walking next to Gwen to visually show who he was with on this one. "We give Shea a chance, if she turns in some way and we are unable to fight her then we call the Plumbers, until then she is our responsibility."

Gwen smiled and startled Ben by pulling him into a friendly hug. "Thank you." She whispered in his ear before walking towards the cars. "Whoa, where are you going?" Kevin asked.

"Home?" Gwen tried, "it's getting late."

Kevin rolled his eyes, "yeah that'll go great 'hi mom and dad is it alright if an alien girl who may or may not be a danger to us all stays the night? She's got nowhere to go and we've got to wait it out to find out if she's really going to kill us!'" Kevin said it brightly but finished with an unamused stare.

Gwen chuckled and patted Kevin on the shoulder, "My parents are out of town for four days, Shea can stay with me."

Ben nodded and Shea grinned, her eyes glinting, "You mean it?"

"Sure, I'd probably just get lonely on my own."

Shea giggled and hugged her hard before following her like a little blonde puppy to the cars. Ben and Kevin trailed behind. "Don't you feel a bit uneasy about Gwen being alone with Shea?" Kevin asked under his breath.

Ben shrugged, "Gwen's smart not to mention she's an Anodite. She can handle herself and if she needs our help she'll call. I'm sure Shea will be fine, they seem to have made fast friends."

Before Shea got into the back of Kevin's car she quickly walked over to Ben. Her slender fingers linked around his arm and pulled him behind a tree. "Ben Tennyson I want to thank you for helping me before, I can't believe I was honoured to be protected by the noble Ben Tennyson, wielder of the Ultimatrix." Her eyes glinted in the sunset, her blue eyes mixing with the deep burning orange. Ben felt himself blush but tried to keep his gaze away from her. Though she was incredibly hot and kind, Ben had Julie and he'd promised that he would be better for her, being better really didn't translate into falling for another girl that wasn't even human.

Shea blinked and looked away, "I believe this is what a thank you is on Earth..." she trailed off her face deepening into a dark blush. Ben tried not to allow it but before he could he felt the soft cool lips of Shea against his cheek. She smiled, fluttered her eyelids and left. Leaving Ben alone and completely confused.

**Second chapter: DONE. :) - Read on if you enjoy, R&R**


	3. Sleepovers and tails

**This chapter is quite short, I apologize for that, it's just really a chapter to show Gwen and Shea's little friendship bond, cute eh? NOTE: I do not own Ben 10, however I do own my character 'Shea.' Please ask my permission if you wish to use any characters in your own story for some absurd reason :) Hehe. **

**Chapter 3**

Ben had already parted from the group, so it was only Kevin's vehicle that parked by Gwen's house. Gwen smiled at him tenderly and leaned in to give him a light kiss on the lips. Kevin accepted it, but as she pulled away Kevin held her close with a vice like grip to her wrist. "Promise to keep safe?" he asked, glancing in the direction of Shea who was looking ecstatic at the idea of a 'sleep over.' Gwen rolled her eyes and brought her lips back to Kevin's, her tongue grazing the inside of his mouth. As she pulled away she nodded understandingly, "don't worry Kevin, I'll be fine. I'll see you tomorrow."

Kevin shrugged, placing a small smirk on his lips. "See you then."

Gwen walked to her front door, hearing the screech of wheels on tarmac as her queue to relax now that a pair of concerned eyes weren't watching her every move. Her fingers idly fiddled with the keys until she slipped them into the lock. The door lurched eerily out the way, a creak following it. Shea stood by Gwen's side and smiled, her feet fell in front of Gwen's as she walked inside. "Wow, it's so... I mean I don't remember what my own home looks like but I somehow feel this one is different, it's unique, it's amazing!" she grinned, opening her arms out wide.

Gwen grinned and rolled her eyes, "it's a house, just like anyone else's on this block. Do you want anything to eat? You do eat right?"

Shea giggled nervously, "I remember that!" she grinned, "I'm pretty sure that I don't have any allergies to anything... then again I've never tried human food."

"I can make you something easy... salad? Do you eat veg?" Gwen asked idly as she dug through the contents of her fridge with her hands.

"Vegetables, I vaguely remember them..." Shea said slowly, walking up behind Gwen and staring inside the fridge. "They are supposed to be good for you right?"

"Well I know they're good for humans," Gwen tried.

"Yeah, my mom used to trick me into eating-" Shea's eyes widened, "Oh my God, my mom! I remember my mom! She's alive, but I- what... how did I manage to leave her?" Tears began to seep down Shea's face as she slumped against the kitchen cabinet.

Gwen tried to show understanding though she had none and linked her arm around Shea's shoulder, "this is good, you've got more of your memory back and it was triggered on old memories. Maybe we can try this more, and you can find out how you did leave her."

Shea sighed and wiped her face with the back of her hand. "I don't get it; I can remember a defence mechanism before my own mother? I still don't even know what I am."

Gwen smiled at Shea and pulled her into a secure hug. "I called my Grandpa Max; he said he'd look up all alien species that can camouflage themselves."

Shea smiled sadly, "it'll take a while." She said, her clear blue eyes losing focus again. She was about to turn away when Gwen grabbed her, "I also told him about how you were able to sense that Ben and Kevin were in danger, it was like you weren't even yourself, like something had taken over you."

Shea looked shocked, "what? All I remember is feeling for a split second that Ben and Kevin were endangered before taking off, what do you mean I was taken over?"

Gwen shrugged, suddenly uncomfortable with the situation, "I'm not sure, you just seemed like you were somewhere else, watching over Ben and Kevin instead of standing in front of me." She tried to smile away the tension, but it didn't seem to help.

Shea lowered her head in defeat, "I'm sorry, but I don't remember any other powers of my species except the defence mechanism, perhaps if I were to show all my true powers I would regain an awareness of them." Shea attempted at her helpfulness but Gwen didn't seem too interested.

"So, what can you remember about your mom?" Gwen asked, quickly shifting the subject from creepy powers.

Shea seemed to visibly brighten, "Yeah! My mom was amazing, she had flowing black hair, pale grey eyes and she loved purple. She called me her little button because when I was growing up I had a cute little button nose." Shea's eyes glinted through the memories and Gwen sat with her, listening contently, truly interested in what she was saying. "She used to try and embarrass me by pretending she was into all the same music that I was into, but at the same time she was just so amazing. I remember when I was young she would act out the fairy tales about little horned pigs that walked on two legs and would try and dance with all the pretty girls." She giggled at the memory, "It seems so silly now, but that was my favourite story while I was growing up." Gwen smiled and patted her on the shoulder,

"Your mom sounds fantastic, my mom was always a stickler for the rules, always keeping secrets and always giving me harsh bedtimes and punishments to make me grow as a person." Gwen rolled her eyes, "but that's what happens on Earth, parents are always so overprotective."

"I know what you mean," Shea nodded, a tear escaping her eye as she nodded in agreement, "when I was old enough to walk to school on my own my mother would wrap her tail around my waste and tell me to recite the five safety rules whilst on my trip to school."

Gwen instantly tensed, "what?" she asked through gritted teeth.

"Oh you know, basic things like don't talk to strangers and always walk with friends..."

"No." Gwen cut her off harshly, sending Shea's worried gaze on her new friend. "You just said your mother had a tail."

Shea froze, her eyes widening as she slid her hands over her mouth in complete shock, "Oh my God I did! Our people have tails, we have tails!"

Gwen smiled at her and hugged her, the two girls giggled furiously together as they did so.

"I'll call my Grandpa Max and tell him the new information, we're going to find out who your species are Shea don't you worry!"

Once the call had been made, Shea had groggily made her way up the staircase and into Gwen's room. Shea was still torn from such a terrible day and she seemed very clingy on Gwen, it just didn't seem right to leave her in the spare room. Instead, Gwen set up a small camping bed by her own with soft sheets to act as a mattress and a large soft feather pillow. She managed to find some pretty insulating purple sheets in the airing cupboard and laid them out for her as well.

Shea, being Gwen's size left easy access for clothes and pyjamas. Gwen and Shea spent hours simply giggling over the silly pictures of animals on some of her pyjamas and discussing the anime characters on others from her childhood days. Finally, after much giggling and realising it was well past midnight, Gwen gave Shea a pair of cow print pyjamas and wore a pink night dress herself. They both lay in their beds staring at each other for a moment, just making small talk until the first yawn ruptured from Gwen's lips. Shea soon followed and the girls giggled in their united tiredness. "I'll see you in the morning." Gwen smiled, her hand wavering over the switch on her bedside lamp.

"Goodnight Gwen, and once again thank you. For everything." Shea responded in a sweet quiet tone.

And just like that, the light in Gwen's purple bedroom faded, leaving darkness to the two sleep induced friends.

**VOILA! Chapter 3: DONE :P Tune it at some other random date for the next installation!**


	4. Wake up call

**Chapter 4, enjoy! I do not own Ben 10, only my characters I made up such as Shea, yay. :) This chapter is kinda short, but eh oh well. Don't like? Don't read! and blah-blah-blaaah! ^-^**

**Chapter 4**

Gwen gently pressed her pillow to her face as she laid her crossed arms beneath the cool fabric. Her dreams were of pink skies and soft white sand beaches. The clear blue Caribbean ocean swept across her bare feet sending a comfortable chill across her body. Her dreams gave her the one thing she craved the most, time alone. She giggled softly as the sun beat down on her face and the small grains of sand began to wrap around her like a blanket. She was at complete peace.

Just as what seemed to be very small versions of Cannonbolt began to rub sun cream on her bare back, the sky seemed to darken somewhat. _Not rain, don't spoil such perfection _Gwen thought, her mind trying to concentrate more on the circling motions on her back. But she was unable to as the sky not only darkened but seemed to crack. Her ears twitched as the sky began to crash down before her, each piece landing just as close to her as the last in a round of methodical poundings.

Gwen's eyes shot open, her body jerking upwards as her eyes focused back into her surroundings. The room was dark, the sunlight only giving a dull orange glow through her baby blue shades. She followed her line of sight to the still sleeping Shea in the other bed. It was unbelievable to think that she wasn't of this planet as she slept so still, her blonde hair covering half her face as a line of dribble drew visible on her lower lip. Gwen couldn't help but smile, having a friend to wake up to reminded her of simpler times, before she'd discovered she was an Anodite and Ben had been eternally bonded to the Omnitrix. Back when she'd just have sleepovers with friends and it was just that simple, no strings attached.

But there was something that she was missing, the methodical pounding she'd heard in her dream was still there, as if it was caught in the back of her head and she was unable to rid of it. "GWEN" Gwen's heart almost stopped as she heard the faded cry of her boyfriend from beyond her front door. Gwen groaned and hooked her legs over the side of the bed. She slipped her feet into a pair of purple felt slippers, taking one last look at her sleeping friend before leaving the room and sliding down the stairs. Gwen opened the door groggily, her hair one big mess on her head.

"Gwen! Don't scare me like that! I thought you had been attacked or something by Shea!" Kevin said, obviously distraught as he quickly hugged Gwen. Gwen was still a little disorientated and rubbed her eyes. "Kevin when I said I'd see you tomorrow I meant a bit later than-" Gwen glanced at the clock on the wall and let her mouth fall open, "8am? You've woke me up at 8am, the only day I've had in over three weeks to lie in from constant alien attacks or other commitments?" Gwen hissed, anger taking over her otherwise tired senses.

"Tell me about it." Gwen glanced to Kevin's left in search of the second voice to find a messy haired yawning Ben barely standing upright. "Why did I agree to this? Oh yeah because on the phone you told me that Gwen was in _danger._" Ben groaned, rubbing his eyes in utter exhaustion.

"I thought she was, she wasn't answering." Kevin countered.

"It's 8am, there's a reason for that!" Gwen growled, rubbing her grotesque hair style, "Just go home Kevin and come back later."

"Well I'm taking all this as Gwen isn't in danger." Ben said, rubbing his face tiredly. Gwen watched as Ben fixed his Ultimatrix onto Jetray, the green light taking his body as he was formed into the red flying alien without so much as his battle cry. Instead he silently took to the sky in pure agitation from his early wake up call.

Gwen scowled at Kevin and nodded, "You too, I want to go back to bed."

"What's Shea been doing, does she remember anything else?"

Gwen stared blankly at him, "she remembers her mom and her species has a tail, but that's all, she's not turned evil or something overnight. She's a real nice person who I'm jealous of right now because she's sleeping and I'm being kept awake by you!" she snarled, grabbing the front door and slamming it shut. Kevin glared at the front door for a moment before growling in defeat. He heard Gwen's bedroom door slam, "I KNOW YOU'RE STILL OUT THERE!" She yelled out her window, "GO HOME KEVIN!"

Kevin rolled his eyes, "I'm going I'm going, Jeez. Blame a guy for worrying when his girlfriend is having a sleepover with a dangerous alien from another planet." Kevin muttered to himself as he got into his car and sped off down the road, the roar of his engine faded into the early morning. Gwen grumbled gibberish to herself as she got back into bed, closing her eyes and allowing her mind to take her back to her peaceful beach.

A few more comfortable hours later, Gwen woke up to Shea stretching in her bed, her eyes a blue more vibrant than ever after her many hours rest. "Morning sleepy head." Shea chuckled, her eyes moving to the window. "You were yelling at Kevin earlier, is everything alright?"

Gwen froze and was immediately embarrassed. She rubbed the back of her neck, "Oh, you heard that? Kevin was being over protective and really annoying so I kicked him out, well he never came in but you get what I mean." Gwen muttered, making her bed as she spoke.

Shea nodded in understanding, "he only does it because he cares about you, you should consider yourself lucky even if he's protective for the wrong reasons."

Gwen blinked, surprised by the amount of knowledge about relationships that Shea held. She was a true friend, a girl that she could share all her feelings with, after all these months just being her and the guys she was starting to really feel alone without any other girls. The closest she had was Julie and even that wasn't much considering she hardly ever saw her anyway. "Well he'll probably be back any minute knowing Kevin's attitude so let's get some breakfast." Gwen smiled, slipping her slippers back onto her feet and sliding a pair of green fuzzy slippers over to Shea.

Shea grinned, "Alright!"

The two were sitting at Gwen's dining table with bowls of cereal when Gwen's home phone began to ring. "I am about 97% sure that's going to be Kevin." Gwen sighed, rolling her eyes.

Shea just smiled, "answer it,"

Gwen couldn't help but smile back, the way Shea seemed to understand her was uncanny; it felt so strange that she'd only met the girl less than twenty four hours ago yet it felt like she'd known her her entire life. Gwen picked up the phone, "hello?"

"Gwen, I've got some news on Shea." It was Grandpa Max and he sounded distraught.

"Sure, what did you find?" Gwen asked, lowering her voice on instinct.

Gwen heard the rustling of papers and then Max's voice again, "I looked up all the signs that Shea has been showing, although I am not entirely sure what her species is I believe that her memory will be completely restored if she were to show the true extent of her powers which would be triggered through distress or anger."

"Is that a bad thing?" Gwen asked, biting her lip.

"I believe that Shea could be very dangerous, the snakes you fought yesterday are part of an intergalactic gang that steal precious gems and recourses from planets, the fact that they need Shea means they are probably aware of her amnesia and will most likely try anything to restore her memory, she could turn on you."

Gwen's eyes widened, "No, Grandpa you can't be serious, she's really nice!"

"All of that could be lost when she regains her memory; she's bad news Gwen, its best if you take her to the Plumbers, I'm going to send them to take Shea."

"No! Grandpa, please don't, she trusts me I can't let that happen."

"Gwen, my answer is final, she needs to be taken into Plumbers care to be fully scanned for her species and taken back there." Max was stern and Gwen knew there was no use fighting him, tears were seeping down her cheeks as the phone went dead. What was she going to say to Shea? What if the distress sent her memory back?

Gwen turned back to Shea who was happily gulping down her cereal, she had began just inspecting the strange food, but she seemed too happy so _good _just simply eating. Gwen sighed and sat down again, the squeak of the chair sending Shea's head straight up. "Something's wrong."

Gwen froze, "no nothing's wrong." She attempted to smile, but Shea seemed to stare at her blankly.

"I need to make a call." Gwen hated herself to leave Shea distraught and blank, no emotion painted across her face, but she had to call Ben and Kevin and get them there ASAP.

She picked up the phone, her fingers trembling around the handle. She quickly dialled Kevin's number, her mind numb simply craving the sound of his voice. The phone rang twice before Kevin answered. "Hello?"

"Kevin,"

"Gwen! Is everything ok?" Kevin was instantly tense.

"No. Listen you and Ben need to get here pronto, Grandpa Max called me and it's important I tell you about it."

"I'll be right over."

And just like that, their conversation had ended. Gwen quickly called Ben as well before turning around to face Shea who was staring down at her empty bowl blankly.

"Shea?" Gwen was instantly afraid, Shea's eyes had glazed over and she wasn't responding.

Suddenly, Shea smiled, which turned into a chuckle which became an uncontrollable laugh. Her neck snapped up as she looked at Gwen, still smiling, her eyes a dangerous shade of yellow, almost golden.

"She knows what you're thinking of course, your grandfather is getting close and she senses it, they're coming for her, you have to help."

Gwen sucked air to keep from screaming when Shea suddenly advanced on her, clinging to her shirt like it was the last thing she'd ever touch. "Help me Gwen." Her voice was a choked gasp, her eyes fading back to a crystal blue as he head fell down. Her hands slipped from her shirt as her hair fell in front of her face.

"Sh-shea?" Gwen couldn't help but stutter, Shea's voice had taken the same masculine tone.

"Don't let the Plumbers take her." Her voice was a whispered hiss; she sounded more like a creature than a human.

"I've got to..." Gwen began, but before she could finish, Shea's head shot up. She quickly swiped the hair from her face as she blinked a few times. She quickly cleared her throat and looked sideways at Gwen. "Sorry, you've got to what?" She asked, a slight smile taking her face.

Gwen raised her eyebrow, "you... you were just talking."

Shea blinked in surprise, "was I? I don't recall..."

But Shea couldn't finish as the doorbell ringing caught her by surprise. "Gwen?" It was Kevin. Gwen was still in a state of shock, but she had to explain to both Kevin and Ben what Grandpa Max had told her. Something within Shea didn't want to be handed over to the Plumbers; something inside Shea knew what Gwen was thinking before she even spoke.

When Ben arrived, Gwen had managed to talk Shea into taking a shower and browsing through her clothes collection whilst she and her friends talked. Without further explaining on what was happening she herded Ben and Kevin into her living area and sat them on the sofa opposite from her own. "Grandpa Max called me earlier, he said that Shea's kidnappers are intergalactic criminals and he thinks Shea works with them. He also said they'll do anything to restore her memory which is most likely to happen through distress or rage."

Kevin slapped his head and groaned, "I told you, I told you all along that the girl can't be trusted."

"We don't know for sure what would happen if she were to remember." Gwen defended, her eyes narrowing into slits at Kevin's reaction. "Grandpa Max called the Plumbers to retrieve Shea." Gwen sighed, looking hopefully at Ben who took the hint.

He shrugged and sighed lowly, "I hate to say it Gwen, but it's for the best if the Plumbers take her, she needs to be studied, she needs to be kept away from the criminals which isn't going to happen if she stays with us."

Gwen gasped and shook her head, "No, Ben she can't, she's doesn't want to. She keeps blacking out and becoming this strange vacant being. She keeps reading my mind in that state, but she talks in the third person about herself."

"Whoa, how come you didn't mention that before?" Kevin snarled, standing up from his seat.

Gwen's eyes widened, "is it relevant?"

Kevin rolled his eyes, "No duh Einstein, speaking in the third person? Someone is able to control her! I'll bet you it's those criminals, that's how they know she's got amnesia."

"So the criminals told me that she can't go with the Plumbers?" Gwen sighed letting her eyes release a single tear, "then it must be for the best if she goes to the Plumbers."

Ben suddenly looked away, staring straight at the door. "Uh..." Gwen and Kevin looked in his direction, instantly given the same dose of shock that he was in. Shea stood with a black shirt and ¾ length white cargos, a towel carelessly slung over her shoulder. Her eyes were wide with fear, tears freely streaming down her cheeks. "I don't want to be taken away!" she cried, her voice was broken and it shattered Gwen's heart to see her in that kind of distress. Her hands balled into fists as she stepped away from the three friends who gradually got up to try and calm her. "No, no, NO!" she screamed, her eyes suddenly turning a dangerous golden. Her skin started to fade away, her body shifted through different colours until her body blended in with her background. The glow of her eyes soon faded, leaving the three staring blankly at nothing. "No! She's gone!" Gwen cried, running forwards to chase her, but Kevin and Ben grabbed her arm securely.

"She only knows one other place on this planet." Ben said soothingly.

Gwen nodded; her eyes stinging with unshed tears as she tried to be strong. Shea would go to the only place she knew, her crash site.

**Chapter 4: DONE ~R&R~ And so forth and whatever else you say at this point, until next time!**


	5. Rontargh returns

**Thank you for the very kind reviews, it's a great motivater hehe. :) This is the 5th chapter, it all goes slightly fast paced so try and keep up, don't like? Don't read! :D Mah-Hah. Oh yes of course I do not own Ben 10 only my characters I created such as Shea. ^.^ **

**Chapter 5**

Gwen was sick with worry through the eternal car journey back to the forest clearing. Possible outcomes kept running through her mind, each ending terribly. What if the criminals found her? What if she'd already remembered who she was? What if she'd hurt herself on the journey? Did she understand how to cross roads, how cars could knock her down? Kevin glanced over at Gwen whose face was pressed against the window, moisture building from silent tears.

"Hey," Kevin said gruffly, trying to attempt to be kind but not lose his status in the process, "We will find her."

Gwen sighed and pulled herself from the window, her eyes sparkling with unshed tears. "I know we'll find her, it's what we'll find is what I'm afraid of."

Kevin didn't know how to respond, he'd been so uptight about Shea he hadn't realised how the two girls had bonded. Gwen really believed in this girl's goodness, something he really was unable to believe in himself. To him, Shea belonged in the Null Void, to Gwen she belonged back home, safe and sound with the apparent mother she had remembered just last night.

The cars came to a skidded halt as Gwen practically threw the doors open. She didn't wait for Ben or Kevin to follow, she just ran. Her legs ached as they carried her through the trees; parts of burning branch had fallen to the ground since yesterday, creating quite an obstacle course. It didn't stop her though. Pink energy tiles lifted her a foot from the ground as she ran through the burnt out clearing where she'd first encountered Shea. Her pod was still there, fully intact and wide open for the world to see. Not even the leather had weathered from being exposed all night. Gwen's eyes glanced around her surroundings, looming oaks and maples blocking easy access to any other part of the forest. "Shea!" Gwen's lungs ached at the intensity of her voice, the name echoing around her for miles, "Shea, PLEASE." Gwen repeated the screams and cries for a few moments before feeling faint from the lack of oxygen in her head. Her body wavered as she felt her legs buckle from beneath her. She fell straight to her knees, the world blurring around her. "Shea," she whispered her breath shaking as she tried to regain the oxygen she lost.

Suddenly, Gwen heard a voice. Someone was calling her name, but she felt so exhausted it was as if she was hearing it from under water. "Sh-shea?" she stuttered, glazed eyes moving weakly to detect the direction of the voice.

"Gwen, are you okay?" Strong arms were hugging her abdomen, as her body fell into a horizontal position. Gwen saw Kevin's blurry face fill with distress as he clumsily shook her in an attempt to wake her. "Gwen? Can you hear me?"

No answer.

"Gwen, please."

No reply.

_Do it for me, Gwen._

Gwen's head jerked up, her mind whirred as she registered the wispy voice as Shea's. She cleared her throat, her body suddenly working on adrenaline. "I'm fine Kevin; I just forgot to breathe..."

"That's not like you." Ben smirked from behind Kevin, any distress for his cousin replaced with sarcasm.

Gwen rolled her eyes and exhaled deeply, "I can't believe how stupid I'm being, Shea's wearing my clothes, I can track her."

_Attah girl Gwen._

Gwen smirked at Shea's voice within her mind and closed her eyes. Her eyes snapped open as the familiar pink light took hold of her sight. The scents of her clothes mixed with Shea's mana was clear enough to follow. Gwen's stomach twisted in realisation. All her senses were prickling, the hair on the back of her neck standing on end. Shea was there, standing right by them but she couldn't see her.

_Don't take me to the Plumbers._

Gwen opened her eyes, the pink fading from her retinas. "I have to..."

"Gwen?" Kevin asked, touching her shoulder hesitantly, "Who are you talking to?"

Gwen sighed hard and looked up at Kevin, "Shea I know you're there, please. The Plumbers want to take care of you, help you find out your species so you can go home."

_I don't want to go home, I like adventure. I want to travel the stars; I want to save people from bad aliens like the Plumbers do. I want to be like my father._

Gwen turned from Kevin completely, searching for any current in the air that could lead her to Shea's exact position, "But you can be, the Plumbers can restore your memory safely and you can do whatever you want after."

Ben and Kevin looked at each other and shrugged, it was like only hearing one side of a phone call.

_They can see into my mind as clearly as I can see into yours, they're going to take me away; the Plumbers don't want me to help. Rontargh made that clear._

"Rontargh is one Plumber; Grandpa Max will help you, please just show yourself." Gwen was desperate to see her friend and make sure she wasn't harmed; the distressed tone in her mind was setting her further and further into unease.

Suddenly, the air began to shift around the trio. Vibrant blue eyes shifted into view as Shea appeared in front of Gwen running straight into her arms. "I'm still not happy about what I have to do." She muttered from behind Gwen's shoulder.

Gwen rolled her eyes, wishing she could do anything to make sure the Plumbers didn't need to take her, but she wasn't able to. Instead, her eyes caught the gaze of a thin object aggressively slashing through the air with its force. "Shea..." Gwen began, but Shea had already stepped out of Gwen's arms, a cocky grin flashing as she turned around and looked behind her own shoulder to see her thin skin coloured fuzzy monkey-like tail swish about leading from her tailbone and onwards. "I remembered our people had tails and when I ran away it came back!" She beamed, swishing it vigorously. "Do you like it?"

Gwen smiled and nodded, Ben said lowly, "it looks great," and Kevin simply rolled his eyes and sighed, "Yeah, looks good."

Shea swished her tail one more time before bounding ahead of the two boys and walking alongside Gwen. "Sorry about running off before, but you'd understand if you were me. It's hard not to know whether you're good or bad... I really want to be good." Shea sighed, "I am going to apologize in advance in case I try and hurt you..."

"No, you really don't need to-"

But Shea had stopped walking; she stood and stared at Gwen deadly serious, "I mean it Gwen. I don't know what will happen if I get my memory back. If I were to try and hurt you or Ben or Kevin or anyone I give you permission to put me down."

Gwen held her arm steadily and looked deep into her sea blue eyes. There was nothing evil about it, the small smirk on her face, her lifted eyebrows, she wasn't a bad person.

"It's not going to come to that." Gwen said flatly, "I've had the same problem with someone else before, trust me. There's good in everyone."

Shea's grin faltered and Gwen could have sworn she saw the girl's eyes flash golden before she opened her mouth to speak, "I'm not like Kevin. I never changed."

Gwen was shocked, her heart pounded in her chest as she raised her eyebrow at Shea, "I never told you it was Kevin."

"I told you, I can read your mind. I was able to as soon as I woke up from that crashed pod."

Gwen raised an eyebrow, "why didn't you tell me sooner? That information could have found your species."

Shea sighed and looked at the ground, her shoe scuffing the dirt that surrounded it. "I thought that if you found out what species I was I'd remember myself and become evil. I told you. You don't understand. It's like there's a voice in the back of my head telling me all of this stuff..."

Shea was distressed, but she angrily clawed at the tears that began to drip from her face. "I think you're right. If I find out who I am, I need a safe environment to do that in, one the Plumbers will provide."

Gwen clutched her chest and nodded, pulling her into a hug. "Hey Gwen," Kevin yelled to the girls up ahead, "The Plumbers are going to land just outside the clearing for Shea." He informed, waving his Plumber's badge in front of them, "say your goodbyes."

Gwen scowled at Kevin who just shrugged his shoulders dismissively.

When the four friends had reached the clearing, the change in atmosphere was clear to them all to find some cover. The roar of engines and propellers filled the afternoon as a large silver ship in the build of a wide rocket landed just a few feet from where they stood hidden in the trees. Steam seeped out of the square door as it opened outwards revealing a large male humanoid with lizard scales and a forked tongue, the Plumber's badge securely attached to his space suit. His head was made up of two thick tentacles that stretched all the way to his tail bone, his eyes a blazing orange. "I have come for Shea." His voice came out smooth, yet projected in the group's ears like a bull horn. His forked tongue slithered out of his lips as he licked them slowly, scanning the area for Shea.

Gwen expected Shea to step forward, but instead she stood still. Her body frozen in place.

"That's Rontargh!" A shiver took hold of Shea's body as she stepped back, tripping over her own feet and smacking her spine into the cold embrace of a pine tree. Gwen shifted in position and moved to Shea's side, pulling her up by one arm."What did Rontargh do to you?"

But Shea didn't answer, instead she pulled away from Gwen, shoved past Kevin so hard he almost fell and glided past Ben, bumping shoulders with him. "Rontargh! I remember you, you told me I wouldn't be like my father, I know who my father was, he was a Plumber and I can remember now that I wanted to be a Plumber, you destroyed my badge!"

Rontargh folded his arms and smirked, "and last time I met you, you were an out of control teenager working for an intergalactic band of criminals."

Shea's eyes narrowed, the shade of a gold ring taking them clear as day as her anger strengthened, "who am I! What am I?" she screamed, her tail curling up into a spiral in pure agitation.

Rontargh picked one of his ferocious tentacle-like fingers in boredom, "I wish I knew, you refused to tell us anything. We were going to send you to the Null Void in that protected Plumber pod but you rewired it to a new destination."

"Aha!" Kevin yelled, breaking everyone's concentration, "I told you she was bad news!"

Ben and Gwen simultaneously slapped their foreheads in annoyance, "we have a little bit of a bigger situation going on here, feel free to join reality." Ben muttered sarcastically.

Kevin smirked and raised his arms up in defeat, "fine, fine." He grinned.

"You must come with us, Shea. So we can restore your memory."

Shea bit her lip, "how can I trust you when you destroyed my Plumber's badge?"

"It didn't belong to you and you are a criminal, you will be treated like one. You will be sent to the Null Void." He spat.

"No!" Gwen cried, "She's changed, just hear her out. When she gets her memory back, you'll see!"

Shea ducked her head in shame and looked at Gwen. She slipped her slender fingers into Gwen's hands and smiled, "Gwendolyn Tennyson, you are a really good friend, but I deserve the Null Void, I have been bad." She sighed and hugged Gwen for the last time, "I'll miss you." She whispered before turning around again to face Rontargh, "I will go with you Rontargh, but only because it promises the safety of my new friends." She turned back, her eyes glimmered to Ben and Gwen and even wavered on Kevin who flinched and turned away his face in disgust.

"I shall come without a fight." Shea stated emotionlessly.

But that sentence came without a reply, as their short lived journey had only just begun. Gwen could feel it before she saw it, her skin tingling with an unknown danger. She quickly nudged Ben who went to speak but she firmly pressed her fingers to her lips. "Something's not right." She hissed, glancing back at the lizard alien about to take Shea, "wouldn't the Plumbers have scanned for her species after capturing her?"

"Depends on the danger that the creature possesses." Kevin said, adding himself to the conversation.

"Shea said that Rontargh was bad, aggressive, it doesn't sound like a Plumber's way." Gwen defended in distress.

Kevin rolled his eyes and folded his arms, "Plumber's can be aggressive towards danger, Shea was part of a criminal gang that stole precious stones and resources from planets. Do the math Gwen; she's not a good kid."

Gwen was not convinced, the tingling sensation on the back of her neck was itching to be put to an end, and Gwen only knew one way fit in doing this. "Rontargh, Shea remembers you as a monster, a bad guy. Why don't you save us the trouble and show us all who you really are? You want Shea so you can restore her memory all right, but not because of the Plumbers!"

Rontargh smiled, "what fool do you take me for? Do you not see my badge?"

Gwen scowled at him, "I see it alright, and being an intergalactic criminal I doubt it was hard for you to acquire it."

Shea's head snapped back to Rontargh, eyes narrowing, "but... I remember you talking badly of my father, you crushed my badge!"

Rontargh smirked, seeming to press something on his armoured forearm. His body shimmered before taking the image of the red and black viper beast that had attacked them not twenty four hours prior. "That much was true," his voice had changed to a wispy low hiss, "you held something deep in your heart to be good, your amnesia was caused by your longing and a nasty bump to the head afterwards. I disguised myself as a Plumber to help you, kid. They were gonna take you to the Null Void and you didn't even try to escape." The Viper's eyes narrowed, "you know we need you for scams, kid. I weren't gonna let no Plumbers take you to the big house, so I rewired that pod, now I've come to get yah."

Shea's hands balled into fists, "_What?_" she hissed, "I could have been kept away from harming people! You chose to save a stupid kid!" she screamed, her lungs aching with the amount of pressure put to her chest.

"You're not some stupid kid Shea; you are our ticket to riches. You got skills, you got power, now let's re-open it on the table shall we?"

The snake gave a devilish grin before grabbing Shea harshly by the head, dragging her towards his own.

"He's going to restore her memory!" Gwen yelled, eyes blazing as she leapt out from the trees.

"Not if we can help it! Come on Kevin!" Ben urged as Kevin merely blinked at the whole situation.

"Whoa... I was way off." Kevin muttered as he weaved around the ship, absorbing the heat resistant metal material from the exterior of the rocket.

Ben flicked through the Ultimatrix and landed on Echo Echo, "this should disrupt the brainwaves getting to Shea." He muttered, pressing down on the button. Not seconds later he stood as a small robotic being, "Echo Echo!" his robotic tone cried, duplicating into seven copies and surrounding the two aliens. Two more copies dove from the original, leaping onto the Viper snake and holding back all six arms from his prize.

Shea, alarmed, ran from the circle of duplicates, her tail curling as her body shimmered before vanishing from sight.

"Ben, he's using his mind to keep contact with her, break it!"

Ben's copies nodded to Gwen's command, "wall of sound!" they repeated, letting out a horrendous set of high pitched sound waves that hit the Viper with full force. His head rang in pain as he clutched onto his head, the image of Shea fading from his mind as pain took over.

When the job was done and the Viper lay crumpled on the floor, his massive reptilian tail huddling around him, Ben returned all his copies to the original before turning human again.

Gwen allowed pink rays to tie the Viper to the ground as Kevin made his appearance, his hand forming into a large hammer. "Nighty night." He smirked, the pounding echoing for a two mile radius.

Their glory however was short lived. Gwen's head twisted around in horror as she heard a pained scream escape the lips of her friend. Shea's body shimmered into view, her face scrunched up in discomfort as she screamed louder, her hands tearing at her hair as she fell straight to the ground.

"Shea!" All three friends yelled in union.

**OooOoOoOO CLIFFHANGER :) Always wanted to do that! Stay tuned for another random update, maybe I should start making a schedual? NAH. That ruins the surprise! :) **


	6. Who is she?

**Wooo, chapter 6! Okay, yes it did get a little hard to follow in the last chapter, but now I've tried to explain it a little. ANYWAYS, I do not own Ben 10 BLAH BLAH only Shea BLAH BLAH please enjoy BLAH BLAH don't like, don't read m'kay? ^.^**

**Chapter 6**

As the three friends ran to aid their friend, the Viper attempted to sit up, his limbs shaking at the effort. "Foolssssssss," he snarled, his own voice returning to a reptilian hiss. "My conectsssssion with the child wasssssss strong, you have harmed her in sssssssaving her."

Gwen knelt by Shea, who was shaking badly, sweat accumulating on her brow. "Gw-Gwen?" Shea rasped before gasping harshly and coughing uncontrollably, "m-my head..."

Gwen's eyes narrowed, she had to do something, anything!

Her hands illuminated bright pink as she placed her glowing fingers to Shea's temples. She closed her eyes, focusing strongly on her brainwaves. Everything inside her was jumbled up, she couldn't read anything from her, it was like her body had gone into lock down. Shea gasped out again, her head jerking back and forth, writhing around under Gwen's hands.

"Ben!" Gwen cried, tears pooling over her lids, "call the Plumbers, call Grandpa, call _anyone_ we're losing her!"

Ben and Kevin talked amongst themselves on what to do until they finally came to the conclusion they needed the real Plumbers, not one that had pretended to be them. Ben made the call while Kevin tried to supervise Gwen who kept slapping his hand away whenever he tried to touch Shea. "She's delicate, I-I think she's dying." Gwen muttered.

"Worssssse than that." The Viper tried again, still unable to stand.

"Did anyone ask for your opinion?" Ben retorted after he'd finished his call.

The Viper gave a dark chuckle, "she'ssss becoming one of ussssss." He slurred.

Kevin got up from next to Gwen and leapt towards the Viper, lifting him up by the neck and snarling in his face, "What do you mean?"

All the Viper did was laugh, spit withdrawing from his mouth until it became a raspy choke and finally, eyes rolling back, he lost consciousness.

Kevin growled, dropping the body onto the floor. "We're gonna have to hope the Plumbers get here fast."

Gwen blinked dazedly, "wh-why?" she stuttered, hand gently brushing the stray hair from her pale features.

"Think about it," Ben said, walking to Gwen and kneeling by her, attempting to show kindness to his grieving cousin. "That was the criminal mastermind, but what about those snakes from before? They'll surely come to his aid if they thought their plan had failed."

Gwen nodded and forcefully pushed herself onto two feet, "I can't read anything from her, it's like she's a machine on lockdown, she's completely inaccessible."

"That's because she's changing." Kevin snarled lowly.

"What?" Gwen's head jerked in his general direction, though she was too afraid of him seeing her in her current state.

Kevin took the hint but carried on with his explanation, pointing his muscular arm to Shea's shivering body on the grass. "Well the Viper said she was changing, but my real hint was from that." His finger wavered on her facial features and both Ben and Gwen let out a simultaneous gasp at what they saw.

Shea's face was as white as a sheet, her frail hands formed fists as her eyes fluttered beneath her lids in a fight within herself to stay sane. Her ears had become thin points, her lips a blood red and beneath them was the slight visual of a pair of fangs. Her hair had seemed to grow longer along with the fact that her nails hidden beneath her fists had seemed to grow through the increasing pressure on her palms drawing a thin line of deep scarlet liquid along her fingers.

Gwen's heart rate picked up, "Maybe the Plumbers can save her? Maybe she's not going to turn on us? She could just be becoming her true form."

Kevin shook his head, "Max confirmed it, she's gonna remember everything Gwen. She needs to be with the Plumber's by then, we don't have long."

Gwen sighed in defeat but nodded anyway. "I won't let anything bad happen to you." Gwen whispered to Shea's writhing body, "I promise."

Ben and Kevin guarded the dangerous Viper as Gwen sang soothing children's songs to her sleeping friend. She doubted the girl would remember the friendship they held the more she considered fact, but she was afraid for Shea nonetheless. The Plumbers would arrest her and would no doubt re-send her to the Null Void.

_Sleep sweet angel little child_

_Hold my hand a little while_

_Spin your hair like golden yarn_

_And come to me, to my arms_

_I'll keep you safe, safe from harm_

_Always, always in my arms._

Gwen wished the sweet lullaby she sung to Shea would hold truth, but the fact of the matter was Shea was no safer from the Plumbers and their actions and views on her in her arms than any other place on the Planet. It was a good a place than any for all they had together to end.

"Gw-gw-gwen?" Shea was obviously frustrated by how weak and stuttered her voice came out, but Gwen felt almost relieved that her constant feverous writhing had begun to subside.

"Yeah?" she cooed, looking down on her friend.

"Stop c-caring Gwen, s-soon I'll be gone, yo-you-you have a life." Shea was unable to stop the tears run down her cheeks, her entire body was out of synch, she couldn't feel her right arm and her head felt like someone was drilling into it. "I'll b-be gone soon." She repeated, her voice getting weaker by the second.

Gwen shook Shea, "Shea, what do you mean by _gone_?" Gwen hissed, her voice getting higher and higher, her breathing unsteady and uneven. Did she mean she'd be gone from her life or gone from _this _life?

Shea giggled hoarsely before her head lolled to one side and her breathing became a husky lopsided tune to Gwen's numb ears. Before Gwen was able to ask more, Shea's eyes were already closed like she'd never been reunited into reality in the first place.

Meanwhile, Ben and Kevin stood over the Viper who had been failing to regain consciousness for the good part of an hour or so. Kevin was battling with himself internally not to turn to Gwen and ask if she needed help as he already knew the answer, "No Kevin, she's too weak Kevin!" her voice rang in his head like a broken record. "Ugh, I'm losing it here!" Kevin finally broke, venting out his issue with the only other living non-evil thing for a good ten mile radius. Ben.

Ben looked at Kevin, eyebrow raised, "wait, what?" he asked, completely confused as he gave one of his best 'I think I missed something' expressions.

Kevin shook his head, "how do I get through to Gwen? Shea is taking up all of her time, she's losing her sanity over a kid that's gonna be evil by the end of the day!" Kevin was losing patience and fast.

Ben lifted his hands in retreat, "dude, how should I know?" he asked.

Kevin gave him an unamused stare, "you're her cousin, don't you know anything about her?"

Ben shrugged, "you just gotta know how to approach the situation. Gwen cares about Shea so you care about her too... you can care about her together."

Kevin groaned, "I don't even know why I bothered to ask you Tennyson, she doesn't listen when I try to help, she just swats me away like some puny bug!"

Ben rolled his eyes and folded his arms, "No Kevin what you've been doing is asking if she needs help and poking an unconscious alien's cheek for the past hour and a half. If you want Gwen to notice you for more than three seconds go over there and act like you care." Ben was growing slightly frustrated by Kevin's behaviour about the situation, but Kevin finally sighed and nodded in agreement. "Fine, I'll try your idea but if it fails Tennyson you're gonna pay."

"Whatever Levin." Ben smirked as Kevin went to kneel by Gwen again.

"Gwen?" Kevin asked, sitting by Gwen's side once more. Gwen hardly noticed Kevin's arm link around her shoulder as he looked down at Shea's silent body. He could see Gwen had begun to struggle keeping Shea comfortable on her lap, so silently he slipped his arms underneath Shea's body and propped her upper half on his knees. Gwen's hand traced idly along Shea's arm to try and soothe her in her silent pain, but Kevin was there. His fingers caught hers, colliding and tracing along each other. Gwen smiled at the sudden warmth she felt knowing Kevin was there. Slowly, she raised her head to meet Kevin's strong smile. He seemed confident, and confidence was what she needed right then and there. Confidence that Shea would be alright.

Gwen took her free hand and placed it on Kevin's cheek, eyes sparkling with unshed tears. "Kevin I-" Gwen wanted to say so much to her boyfriend, to apologize to plead for help, to hug him and let herself be held in his arms, but time for talking was over. Kevin put his hand over hers pushing his own body closer to her face as their lips touched in an explosion of passion.

Lips never parting, closed eyes keeping away all their fears, lost within each other in their own private world.

Ben glanced around, feeling provoked to make gagging noises or yelling 'get a room' but he knew his cousin needed Kevin, she was hurting inside. She cared more about Shea than both boys combined. Instead he tried to be as little bother to their moment as possible and turned away, trying to concentrate on the dangerous viper alien, making sure any movement would be put to an end.

When Gwen and Kevin's lips parted, their faces were flushed, but their hearts were warm. Gwen sighed in relief, allowing tears to pool over her lids as she returned her attention to Shea who still seemed to take the form of a peacefully sleeping angel.

Kevin stroked Gwen's arm and looked down at Shea himself, "she looks a lot better, maybe you were right." Kevin tried, his voice kept low and gruff.

Gwen shrugged and leant against Kevin's capable shoulder, "I just don't know anymore." She sighed; gripping hard to Kevin's hand like it was the last thing she'd ever touch.

Suddenly, Ben appeared by the couple slightly averting his eyes in a mixture of discomfort and embarrassment, "hey guys, sorry to ruin the moment but the _real _Plumbers should be landing soon. The Plumbers for this sector."

Gwen nodded and smiled her thanks as Kevin barely even noticed Ben's presence.

Suddenly, all three pairs of eyes met back at Shea who seemed to move in slight discomfort in her sleep. "Gw-G-Gwen?" she shuddered, her eyes fluttering open as she grabbed onto Gwen's arms. Her eyes were no longer a clear blue but dark with small parts of golden light glinting through her retinas. "I-I don't have long." She whispered, her body attacking her with more violent shudders as she grabbed onto Gwen harder and harder.

Gwen attempted to rock her, hushing and cooing her as sweat began to form on her brow, "what do you mean you don't have long?" she cooed.

Shea's eyes narrowed, her pupils widening suddenly like a feral animal, "I-I'm changing Gwen. I-I c-can see the darkness." Her back arched as she groaned in pain, "I-It's taking me over, m-my memories, m-my past." She was whimpering now, gold tinted tears dripping down her chin. "You've got to run, y-you've got to hide."

All three friends were holding her down as the pain spikes became more intense, her screams filling the afternoon air as she writhed on the grass.

"Look!" Kevin suddenly shouted as a blue bright light shone down just beyond the trees.

Gwen felt like screaming in relief, "it's the Plumbers, the _real _Plumbers."

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH" Shea's voice ruptured from her mouth as her sharp nails clawed the ground leaving vicious marks in the dirt.

All eyes were unable to rip from Shea until a loud booming voice caught their attention, "everyone away from the creature, she's in a dangerous state!"

All faces turned to see a wolf faced creature with a large black tail sticking out from the back of his suit. His hands were covered with paw-shaped claws as his large black eyes narrowed towards the four. "I am Magister Triodarn Neiphate" he growled, advancing to the children.

"You're the Plumber? You're a big dog!" Kevin blurted, Ben and Gwen narrowing their eyes at him.

Neiphate snarled and balled his fists, "I am a Carnine from planet Rourstate seven, part of the great Silfix Galaxy. Our people are ruthless and strong, I am no _mutt._"

Kevin shrugged and smirked, "sorry for the uh... confusion?"

Neiphate nodded, his eyes staring down his large snout as he grabbed Shea harshly, holding her in the Bridal position as her hands flopped lifelessly to her sides. Her head lolled backwards at the point her neck balanced against his suited arm.

"Be careful with her!" Gwen stated filled with distress, "She's delicate!"

Ben and Kevin stayed close by Gwen who seemed to be growing angrier and angrier with the poor care that the Magister was giving to her friend.

"She must be taken to the ship at once, we don't have much time before her transformation completes." The Magister commanded, looking down at the scruffy humans before him.

"Your job is done here, you may return to whatever business you previously held." He remarked snidely.

Gwen balled her fists, her eyes glowing a dangerous pink, "No way, wherever Shea goes I go. We're all Plumbers, we have a right!"

Kevin took Gwen's shoulder to pull her back slightly, "Maybe he's right." He said slowly.

Ben nodded in agreement, "Kevin's right, this has got out of hand, we should let the Plumbers take it from here."

Gwen didn't seem to hear them; instead she grabbed the Magister's arm and growled at him under her breath. "I'm coming." She said firmly.

"I'm not letting you go alone!" Kevin concluded, grabbing Gwen's hand.

Ben sighed and ducked his head, "which means I'm coming too." He said, walking next to Kevin and folding his arms in an angered fashion.

A beam of blue light blinded the trio whilst they were split into atoms and scattered across their world into the Plumber's ship high above the Planet.

Each member of the group rubbed their eyes profusely to see a large grey marble hall before them. The atmosphere was filled with the large clanging of machinery at work coming from each and every direction. Doors were planted several feet from each other, four being on each side of the large walls that separated them from the deep pits of space. The Magister snarled gruffly, his own version of telling the gang to keep close as he stepped from the small metal step that they had been teleported on. Gwen kept the closest to the Magister, her hand attempting now and then to take Shea's, though there was no response from her chilled fingers.

Kevin's eyes darted around the place, searching for any amazing technology he could 'obtain' as Ben kept his gaze fixed on Gwen. He'd never seen her like this before, not even over Kevin. It was like Shea was special to her. Granted she was the only female friend she'd hung out with in a long time, but it just felt like Gwen had no doubt in her that Shea was good and because of that Ben allowed himself to think on the bright side of the situation as well. If Shea turned out to be good there would be a lot of work to do to stop her from being taken to the Null Void, especially with her apparent background. Speaking of which... Ben cleared his throat in an attempt to begin conversation with the Carnine, "What happened to that guy... Rontargh?"

The Magister rolled his eyes; taking a sharp left at the end of the hallway leading the trio into a wider, brighter hall with more doors and a few Plumbers at work themselves. "That wasn't his real name, it was the name he took to fool us into believing he was a Plumber, the Viper creature you met was named Feroso, a deadly alien criminal with deadlier followers. They steal-"

"Precious stones and resources from other Planets yeah, yeah we know. Where is he though?"

The Magister nodded, "We couldn't take him to the same room young Shea would stay in in case he were to manipulate her memories, we teleported him to a secluded area on the other side of the ship."

"He can manipulate memories?" Gwen asked gobsmacked.

"His species works through the mind to turn people against each other by changing memories of their past." The Magister informed, "It is then easier for them to steal prized items from aliens that are too busy fighting to notice the abduction of their jewels."

Gwen nodded and looked away, "Is it possible that Feroso had been manipulating her from the beginning?" Gwen asked.

The Magister shrugged, "we are not certain, but we will when we finally find her species, the child has always been too slippery for us to ever find out, we thought sending her to the Null Void would be more fitting, but you have proved to us we must find out to truly decipher her fate."

"How will you even find out her species?" Ben inquired.

"It is really quite simple, now that her form has taken physically we can narrow down our search, in fact there are only two species with tails, pointed ears and golden eyes. We must now decipher which of the two Shea belongs to." The Magister said, slinging Shea over his shoulder as he put his paw on a small blue pad that read his DNA allowing the gang into the room on the end of the hall they had travelled through.

As the pad beeped and the door slid up and open, the Magister reverted back to carrying Shea in the bridal position until they reached the centre of the room.

Gwen looked around in awe, it was a large hospital-like room with two hospital beds, a large metal testing bed and three large green flashing machines that seemed to be so alive with noise you could have mistaken them for creatures.

"Impressive medical tech." Kevin noted, stroking his chin.

The Magister narrowed his eyes at Kevin, sharp canine claws ripping from the paws of his suite. "Don't even think about it kid." He snarled once putting Shea on the table.

Shea had stopped sweating and thriving and just seemed unconscious like the day that they had met her. The Magister began to cuff her wrists and ankles to the table finishing with an extra cuff for her tail. All three teenagers raised their eyebrows as the Magister cleared his voice and grunted, "Precaution." He barked.

The Magister stared at the kids until it became uncomfortable until he finally left to one of the pieces of machinery and revealed a hand held square device with three buttons, a small screen and a black antennae. "I am only going to be testing things such as brainwaves and bodily functions to get a correct reading on her species, I will give you designated resting areas until I have finished and then you may talk to the subject if she shows any signs of being changed since her last encounter with the Plumbers."

"What was she like before?" Gwen asked as Ben and Kevin nodded to show they also wanted to know more.

"She was ruthless, evil, refused to talk. All she did was smile. We knew she'd cause havoc with us, we just suspected with her history she was fit for the Null Void."

"Well you were wrong!" Gwen spat.

Suddenly, Ben and Kevin were no longer enjoying Gwen and the Magister's little back and forth. Instead, they were staring wide-eyed at the now conscious Shea on the medical bed. Her eyes glinted a dangerous golden as she stared at her prey. "Ah, now what a surprise, what new friends did I make in my absence?" she grinned cruelly.

**:) Please R&R your comments are much appreciated! Hope to see you again when you knuckle down to read Chapter 7 whenever I bother to upload it, TEEHEE! :D Cyaz x**


	7. She's a bad kid Gwenny

**Chapter 7 yaaaay! I do not own Ben 10, only my characters such as Shea. ;) Now it's time for our little Shea to get that evil glint in her eye! DON'T LIKE DON'T READ! :D**

**Chapter 7**

"This would be a good time to take back that thing you said about Shea being good..." Ben hissed to Gwen as she too turned to Shea. Her blonde hair flopped in front of her face as she blew it from her eyes continuously to get a good look at her playmates. "Let me see if I remember..." she said, her voice lower, shallower... and some unknown quality that left it sounding dark and evil. Her sharpened finger nail pointed to Ben through her cuffs, "Ben Tennyson? Ah yes, holder of the Ultimatrix am I right?" Shea didn't wait for an answer, instead her finger lay on Kevin who narrowed his eyes and balled his fists becoming tenser just by her gaze meeting his. "Kevin, a large hunk of muscle who just doesn't understand emotion very well. Used to be bad as well I see, looks like you and I have a lot in common, that is until your friends c_hanged _you." She spoke the word 'changed' in a sickened fashion, her face scrunching up in the process.

Finally, her gaze set upon Gwen who was unable to give Shea the same look of disgust her friends did. "Ah Gweny Gwen, Gwen!" Shea cackled, her fangs dancing in the light that shone from the ceiling. "You thought I could change? Little old me, the evil one. The dark one. Oh Gwen what a disappointment I am." She said with faked tears. "Oh boo hoo." She said snidely before struggling under the cuffs. "Oh Magister, this is a surprise!" she smiled cockily.

"No more talk from you Shea or we sedate you and put you straight back into the Null Void." The Magister growled, dark eyes narrowing.

Shea rolled her eyes, "Oh Magister you hardly know me at all, but I do know these kids, and dearest Gwendolyn wants to know what species I am and to put some good in my heart." Shea was sarcastic now; her pupils ripping open with a new sense of humour.

Shea's eyes momentarily became a brighter gold as she stared at her three previous friends, "Now that's nice, Gwendolyn still believes I can change, Kevin wants to kill me and little Ben there is just itching to change into Echo Echo to disrupt the brain wave patterns to give me a headache, smart boy." Shea snarled, her fingers curling under their shackles, "one thing you did underestimate though..." she said slowly, her tail sliding out from the cuff that previously held it in place. Ben went to put his hand to his Ultimatrix, but Shea was fast. Her tail took the bolt that held the cuff for her right arm and threw it at Ben's hand, knocking it away from the Ultimatrix as he yelped in pain.

"That's it!" Kevin cried, grabbing the metal walls and absorbing them. His hand became a long sword-like spike as he charged at Shea who'd managed to free her limbs fully. She slid from the metal table and carefully moved ever so slightly to her right to counter act the attack. Her body shifted around Kevin as she shimmered and disappeared from sight.

"How do we find her now?" Kevin snarled.

"Echo Echo!" was Ben's only answer as he transformed into the small robotic creature.

"I know how to get her to show herself!" he croaked as three duplicates ran from the original and took each corner of the sealed room. "Wall of sound!" they cried as waves of nauseating high pitched tones rang through the room. Gwen, Kevin and the Magister who seemed to be taking the pain the worst with his large dog-like ears grabbed their heads and groaned. The Magister howled in pain which mixed with Shea's screams as her body shimmered back into place just by the door.

"No!" Ben as Echo Echo cried as he pressed the Ultimatrix showing clearly on his chest. His body was engulfed in a green light as he was transformed into Echo Echo's ultimate form, a tall navy robot with deadly high pitched bombs attached to his arms.

Shea's nails dag into the mainstream robotics of the pad that detected a Plumber's hand as sparks flew everywhere. The door slid lazily open as Shea skidded underneath it before it had even gone up halfway. "See ya losers!" she cried, her tail waving goodbye from underneath the door.

"No!" Ultimate Echo Echo's voice came out distressed as his body hovered in the air flying through the door and chasing after Shea at full speed. The Magister, finally getting control of his hearing chased after the two on a victory snarl as he ran full throttle with his Plasma pistol.

Kevin's arms morphed back into blades as he readied himself to follow, but was stopped when he noticed that Gwen hadn't moved since Shea had freed herself from her shackles.

Gwen's head dropped as silent tears seeped down her face, "I-I really did believe she was g-good." She hiccupped on her words as she felt her salty tears claim her.

Kevin didn't hesitate in putting his arm around the grieving girl. He held her close allowing her to rest her head against his chest suddenly unable to care less if his shirt got wet with tears.

When Gwen mustered the courage to look at Kevin through her bleary eyes she gave a weak attempt at a smile, "we need to stop her." She stated, shoulders bracing as she calmly walked out from Kevin's arms.

"You sure?" Kevin asked, still concerned for her.

Gwen nodded, "Shea told me that if this was to happen, I had to stop her. That's what we're going to do." She muttered, folding her arms and walking out the door. Kevin easily caught up to her with three large strides and took her hand in his, "You really want it to go like that?"

Gwen groaned and looked at the floor, "No Kevin I wanted her to be able to see the good side, and I still haven't given up on her, like I never gave up on you. She just needs our help to see herself for who she is, somewhere inside her is good... but for any of that to happen we need to secure her so she can't escape." Gwen said firmly before allowing her hands to light up once more as she sprung into a light jog down the hallway.

It wasn't hard to find Shea, not with the constant gun shots and large crashes from various items before thrown two and thro. "Sonic DOOM!" Ultimate Echo Echo yelled as he finally got Shea cornered against the wall of the large circular auditorium-like room. Large windows circled the two showing nothing but the bleakness of space in its wake. Ben was determined to rid of Shea, but not kill her. He knew Gwen wouldn't approve of that and he had to force himself to think back to what had happened with Kevin, he had to allow himself to give her a second chance, after all she wasn't hurting anybody yet.

"Oh Ben Tennyson you wouldn't hurt me, not after the kiss we shared." Shea giggled mischievously, winking at the robot before her.

Ben halted in his attack, the floating deadly sonic devices still encasing her in case she were to escape. "That's not gonna work, I have a girlfriend." Ben answered snidely, letting the sonic devices release their deadly sound.

Shea rolled her eyes and leapt into the air, cautiously avoiding the blow from the sonic devices. She landed gracefully behind Ben, her slender arms reaching around his metal torso in a gentle, delicate hug. "Now, now Ben. Don't act like you didn't love it. I can read your mind silly boy; this hasn't been the first time you've made a mistake in your love life..."

That was enough that Ben could take, his cold rectangular fingers grabbed Shea's slender wrist as he threw her at the window, her body colliding with the thick glass as a loud thump filled the tense atmosphere around them.

"Ben!" Gwen cried, reaching the destruction a little too late, "we need to give her time to explain."

Ben turned to her, as he did so returning back to Echo Echo and then finally his human form. "I just did, she's got to be knocked out from that blow." He grinned, turning around and walking over to meet the damage he had done.

To their horror, Shea leapt to her feet, nails extended to extremely dangerous talons as she smiled in victory, "I'm afraid I can't stick around I have a few friends waiting for me!" she grinned, pointing over to the only accessible entrance and exit that had now slammed shut. By it, the two yellow and black vipers appeared, fangs outstretched as they carried stolen weaponry in their six hands.

"Come!" they commanded, smiles stretching along their scaly features.

"Not if I can help it," Kevin snarled, running forward as he absorbed the metal around him, hands mutated into thin deathly swords.

Gwen turned around, her magic lifting one of the snakes into the air, wrapped in pink binding. Ben slammed down his Ultimatrix turning into a four armed blue monkey, with spider-like eyes, "Spider monkey!" he cried, chirping in a simian-like manner as he leapt onto the remaining guard as Gwen snatched his weapons with a pink arm. Ben squirted a large spider web over both guards, securing them to the ceiling.

The two were just in time to see Shea shift from her position, grab Kevin's arm and throw him over her shoulder planting him straight on the ground in a force that could shatter the Richter scale.

Her body then shifted from colour to colour as she darted across the room, Spider Monkey hot on her tail. Shea rolled her eyes as she witnessed Ben attempt to hit her with spider web only to have his still in motion body entwined in her own thin flexible tail. Shea then pulled her tail aggressively from Ben's screeching body as he face planted on the ground.

Shea ran, skidding to a halt beside the yellow and black snake goons. "Come on idiots, bright ideas, we need to save Feroso!" she demanded, snapping her long talon like finger nails as her eyes darted from person to person. Gwen had retreated to Kevin as she helped him up and Ben was still struggling on the floor, Spider Monkey caught in one of his own spider webs.

"We need to stall them and fast!" she hissed.

Both vipers looked at each other before the one closest to the wall grinned largely across his scaly features as his three fingered hand drove straight into the metal plated wall pulling out several important looking wires and cables.

The room dove into deep red as alarms rang from every corner. Ben, Gwen and Kevin looked around disorientated until they each fixed their gaze on Shea who applauded the vipers before grabbing each of their arms and exiting the room.

Spider Monkey finally ripped the web from his furry body, bounding towards the door only to be halted by the sound of gun fire and The Magisters dog-like howl as he leapt into the room, gun at the ready. "Feroso escaped! I was chasing him down the hall when I came across Shea and his viper goons, they teleported to an unknown zone, I fail to know how long it will take to find their exact position!"

Gwen and Kevin soon stood behind Ben, eyes glaring at the Carnine. "We take it from here." Gwen demanded.

"It's too dangerous!" the Magister barked.

"Shea was my responsibility and I am going to change her no matter what it TAKES!" Gwen stabbed her fingers into the Magister's suit as she screamed out her words at the top of her lungs. Ben and Kevin stood wide-eyed at what they were witnessing. Gwen, always the adult was losing it with a Plumber official. The Magister's eyes narrowed, "I am in charge of this sector, if I catch any of you near those dangerous criminals I will take your badges!" he growled, eyes a blaze as he pressed a button on the sleeve of his suit.

"Wait, what are you-" but before Ben could ask, the team were engulfed in a blue light, leaving them in the fresh aroma of cut grass and maple trees.

"NO!" Gwen cried.

Gwen fell to her knees, grabbing tufts of grass on her way down in anger and agony, "NO!" She repeated, twice as loud as before, staring out into the musky orange sky. "They can't do this! SHEA IS OUR FRIEND!" She cried, body curling in on itself as she allowed her auburn locks to dangly freely in front of her face.

"She's dangerous, you saw what she was capable of and that was just on her own." Ben defended, folding his arms in finality.

"She has good in her though!" Gwen spat, standing on her feet and storming towards her cousin. Ben didn't back down as he narrowed his eyes at her, "I know you're upset Gwen, but this is when we have to step down and rely on the Plumbers to do their jobs, we can't always be the heroes!"

Gwen was shocked with Ben's authority over the situation; her fingers that had been previously dancing with pink light vanished as she looked down at her feet in horror. "I'm so sorry." She muttered, stroking her arm idly as she scuffed the grass with her shoe. Kevin hesitantly approached her, taking her hand and stroking her palm smoothly, "You tried Gwen, but Shea's bad news, we just have to let them deal with her and-"

Gwen grabbed hard against Kevin's hand ferociously, "Take her to the Null Void? No way!" She spat, wriggling from Kevin's grip and walking back over to Ben. "We have tried, now it's time for us to _succeed. _We understand Shea, we know her and I think together we can get her to reveal the goodness in her heart. She's got a mother that's no doubt worried about her; we need to think of it like that."

Gwen spent a long set of moments staring pleadingly into Ben's eyes until he finally let out a sight of defeat and nodded rigidly, "fine." He barely whispered.

"What? No way, she's a monster!" Kevin snarled.

Gwen turned on her heals, eyes wide and filled with purpose, "And what if it was you? You were a monster, and we didn't kill you! We didn't put you in the Null Void, we tried to help you and we succeeded."

"To be fair Ben tried to kill-" But Kevin stopped dead in his sentence as he looked into his girlfriend's steady gaze. With one quick eye roll he took Gwen's shoulder and smiled. "Okay."

Gwen smiled in victory as she leapt at Kevin and brought him into a secure huge. "I knew you'd do it!" she grinned.

"Well we still need a plan." Ben said, cutting into the moment. "Let's not forget what the Magister just said to us."

"So we take the rust bucket." Gwen countered.

"What about finding her?"Kevin inquired.

Gwen smiled devilishly, "she's still wearing my clothes, she's too far away to find her exactly, but with Grandpa's help I'm sure we can do this!" she beamed, "plus, we've got the last piece of the puzzle."

Both boys raised their eyebrows in silent confusion.

Gwen rolled her eyes, "she's strong, agile and can read minds, that's got to be enough information to find out which of the two aliens she is. We can do a lot more than just find _her_"

**In the next chapter I have high hopes for the gang to find our what species Shea really is, it'll be a good'n. :) R&R pwetty pwease.**


	8. The mother of my enemy

**Yay, finally it's chapter 8! This is quite a short chapter but it finally explains who Shea is, what Shea is and why she became a criminal in the first place! Yippeee :) Anyway, Again I must stress that I do not own Ben 10 only my characters such as Shea, Feroso and now Carthona. :) Please R&R and if you don't like - don't read! Hehe.**

**Chapter 8**

"Those Plumbers are a dangerous gang to get tangled with, what were you thinking?" Feroso sneered at his newly acquired team mate. Shea's eyes sparkled up at the viper; his body towering over her and making her feel obsolete. "I guess I wasn't thinking." She sighed, "Considering I didn't even know who I was, great plan in trying to get me though. Disguise yourself as a Plumber _and _break my Plumber's badge!" Shea's voice hitched in pitch by the end, her voice cracking as she was taken back to the moment her father's warm guiding fingers slipped her most prised possession into her hands.

"What's it to you anyway? You're wid us now. We ain't got no time for goody goody Plumber gear,"

"I still haven't made up my mind, Plumbers are good guys, my father was a good guy! That's why I made sure I got caught by them, I wanted to do my time Feroso I wanted to leave that place a free girl!"

Feroso snarled at Shea's angered fashion when it came to being good, "I didn't risk my tail saving no goody. We wouldn't get anywhere without you kid. Think about it," he grinned, fangs sliding out over his bottom lip. Two of his six arms pointed over to the corner of their small but agile stolen ship where bags upon bags filled to the brim with jewels and various kinds of money were piled high. "You wanna be free? You already are, we gots all dis cash by selling the stuff we steal. What better life could you hope for? You're a crook kid, and you'll never change dat."

Shea folded her arms in defeat, her subconscious thinking back to Gwendolyn Tennyson. Her face was already fading from her mind, but she was clawing at the picture in all hopes to restore the memory. "I am a bad kid." She said slowly, "I hurt the people I cared about..." she looked back up at her boss, her carer for two years of stealing and being on the run. He was the closest thing she had to a father now, and she was determined not to lose another.

"You're right. This is the life for me." She smirked evilly.

The two aliens hugged each other warmly, Feroso's cool scales feeling good against her skin. Shea just wanted family, and as long as she was with Feroso, she had that.

"So, Shea can read minds?" Grandpa Max said as the team circled Gwen's kitchen table. Max had brought a laptop device that stored all information on the two aliens the Plumber's had narrowed the search down to. He typed in the new information and looked up at his two grandchildren and Kevin in victory. "We've got a match."

"Well?" Gwen asked hurriedly, "not to rush you or anything, but we really need to know!"

"According to the files, Shea is from a race of alien called Impodene."

"Impodene... now why does that sound familiar?" Kevin said, stroking his chin.

"Ah, well it's quite simple really. Impodene are also the creatures of folk ledged, Imps in old fairy tales. A selection of Impodene crash landed here five hundred years ago and after time, their story was stretched and sold all over the world."

Gwen's eyes widened, "that's amazing, do Impodene still live on Earth?"

Max sighed and rubbed his face, "Impodene live for around four thousand years, they are much more heightened in intelligence and have existed in the universe for billions of years, however I do know that these Impodene left the planet over a century ago, none of them ever returned to such a low life community."

Ben rolled his eyes, "great, so what planet do they come from? Gwen had this plan to-" Gwen quickly elbowed Ben in the side and looked innocently at her Grandfather.

Max shook his head, "Gwen, you surely can't be thinking to travel to Ivalda,"

"Ivalda is their home Planet?" Gwen tried, attempting to win her Grandfather over with her signature puppy dog eyes. Sadly, it worked to no avail.

"Grandpa, please! I had this idea, if we went to Ivalda we could find Shea's mother and ask her about her!"

Max shook his head, "it's too dangerous to even try and find out about Shea, if you were to come in battle with her... Impodene are potentially lethal in combat, they have nails that could slice human flesh by touch, fangs with poisons that could make you deathly ill, not to mention their amazing agility, fast reflexes, added bonus of a tail _and _camouflage."

Gwen sighed heavily, "Fine, we won't go to Ivalda." She smiled, looking at Ben and Kevin with the 'I don't care what he says, we're doing this!' glare.

Max shook his head, "I know I can't stop you kids, you are old enough to make your own decisions, but I am warning you, Shea is evil. Even if you go to Ivalda, just consider my words, Shea will do anything to destroy you." His tone was grave and final, and although all three teens got shivers down their spines, they still headed out the door to the rust bucket mark 3, their ship.

"I still don't get why we're doing this, we never go against Grandpa!" Ben sighed as the trio made their way into the moss green ship.

Gwen rolled her eyes as she sat herself on one of the passenger seats at the side of all the controls, her arms folded in a final manner. "Shea is my responsibility Ben, she's got good in her and that's why we need to know all details from her mother, who else better to ask?"

"And what then? We just march up to Shea and hope she doesn't kill us?" Ben retorted.

"Don't be dumb." Kevin smirked as he pulled the ship into ignition, "afterwards if the kid doesn't co-operate we see to it that she does, my kind of way." Kevin's eyes said it all, and Gwen knew that Ben was thinking the same. If Shea wasn't going to co-operate they'd make her through a lot of pain. Gwen couldn't hide the shiver that was sent down her spine just by thinking of what atrocities awaited Shea.

Gwen simply closed her eyes and drowned out Ben and Kevin's idle chatter as the ship took into flight. All she could do was hope. That was all she had left.

The journey was long, even for their spaceship, but after much flying and following the red dotted light on Kevin's badge, everyone looked up from their positions to see a red and green planet almost three times as large as Earth staring at them dominantly. Three moons circled the planet from different positions and Gwen was almost certain that the planet took on a supernatural glow.

"I got some information about Ivalda from one of my sources," Kevin said smoothly through the silence.

Ben arched an eyebrow, "right, another source." He said sarcastically.

"Shut it Tennyson," Kevin spat before restarting, "The planet is like Earth in atmosphere but it's only 57% water, the extra land was needed to house such a large population."

Gwen and Ben both looked identically confused and slightly afraid as they identified the green colours of the planet to be land.

"That means their water is..." Gwen began.

"Yeah, not so much water... it's this other liquid, some kind of nourishment, it's actually kinda nice."

Ben couldn't help but allow his mouth to fall open as he covered his eyes in disbelief, "Kevin, you've actually _drank..._"

Kevin rolled his eyes in disgust, "Oh quit being a baby Tennyson, it's not like its poison or nothing."

Gwen shook her head, "Let's not get off topic, now the Planet is a large place, but I think I can pin point Shea's mother's location from the energy Shea left there," Gwen said, her eyes mystically aglow.

"Great," Kevin stated, "you just tell us where and I'll go there,"

The next few moments were spent with Gwen pointing in different directions, her Anodite heritage leading the way. Finally her finger rested straight ahead and an easy grin spread upon her face. "It's strongest here; it feels like Shea had only been here a couple days ago at the very most."

Kevin and Ben nodded in union as the large ship began to make its entrance to a very luscious area. Thick green grass was seen from every direction, a long dirt road that spread across the middle followed with very large houses with tall rectangular tinted windows spreading around each building. The door was the only transparent sheet of glass, each house although made of the same material took different shapes, however Gwen was only interested in the house that seemed to be square up until the roof that led off in a definite point to the left, the slant making the sun for that planet's origin dance from the surface of the glass.

"This place is amazing," Ben observed as the large ship managed to fit in what seemed to be an empty driveway that led onto the road.

"That's the house." Gwen said, pointing to the one she'd been watching with narrowed eyes, "I don't understand, her energy feels so strong here, she must have literally come to her mother hours before she was taken into Plumber custody."

Kevin shrugged, "maybe that was the reason that she was taken into Plumber custody."

Gwen glowered at her boyfriend, all senses telling her to hit him with a firm elbow. Instead she shook herself mentally before getting up from her seat, subconsciously brushing her skirt down and heading for the door.

"Be on your best behaviour boys, we don't want any trouble here." She said with a hint of humour.

Ben and Kevin rolled their eyes and closely followed Gwen into the strange wilderness of fresh cut grass, dirt roads and tinted glass houses. Everything seemed so perfect, so harmonious, it made the teens crave better for their own planet.

Gwen filled the silence with three brisk knocks against the glass door, vibrations sent out making the entire group shiver.

An uncomfortable few moments of unease followed as no one came to the door. The trio shared worried glances at each other as different scenarios of what a girl like Shea was capable of doing to her own mother played in their minds.

Finally, much to their relief the door flew open and a woman with long ebony locks and bright grey eyes answered with a smile, fangs showing ever so slightly from her scarlet lips.

"Welcome new comers, I sense you are not of this world." Her voice was vibrant and methodical, it echoed around the trio's ears like dulcet tunes. Gwen was shocked to see how young the woman looked, she seemed twenty five at the most but she fitted Shea's description perfectly. Then, her mind wandered back to what Grandpa Max had said. Four thousand years...

"My name is Gwen, this is my cousin Ben and our friend Kevin, we're Plumbers and we're here about your daughter..."

The smile spread across the woman's face soon faded, leaving her pale and vulnerable. "I'm sorry, I haven't seen my daughter in over two years." The woman said flatly, her feline-like claws digging into the glass as she attempted to close the door.

The woman was shocked to find she wasn't able to accomplish this motion as a glowing pink mana-made door stop stood in her way. "I'm sorry ma'am, but I have reason to believe that you saw your daughter a few days ago."

The woman's dull gaze set upon Gwen's mind, her pupils widening as her eyes became a thick gold. "Oh, I see you are an Anodite." She stated, huffing as she wiped a strand of hair from her face. She became visibly tense as she looked out her door and to her left and right. When adamant that no one was there, she gestured for the teens to come inside, her body gracefully turning to give the trio a look at her tail that proudly sprouted from a hole in her blue skinny jeans. As well as that she wore a turquoise flowing linen shirt with a large wooden sphere necklace hanging over her chest. Her wrists were also decorated with thick oak bracelets with words carved into them that Gwen did not understand.

As the teens followed her into an amazingly bright living room with cream leather sofas and a soft wooden table in between, a fuzzy red rug as a source of comfort beneath, they were individually speechless.

The woman smiled and sat on the sofa, motioning for the trio to do the same and they graciously complied.

"How did you know I was-?"

"An Anodite?" The woman finished Gwen's sentence with a smile, "surely you knew that Impodene can read the minds of the weaker species."

"Weaker?" Kevin grunted,

"Ah," the woman chuckled softly, "you are hard headed, but what can I expect from an Osmosian."

"Ok quit it." Kevin asked blankly.

The woman smiled and nodded, "Very well, and how rude of me not to give my name, something my daughter was able to miss out even in her weakest of states." The woman stood and held her palm out; her claws retracted and left her with smooth rounded nails "My name is Carthona Palume."

The teens cautiously shook her hand before staring at her with blank expressions.

"Gwen's mind is filled with thoughts on my daughter, and I know you must be curious why she would have returned to me. I held the same thoughts, my daughter ran away to join criminals after they stole from our planet." Carthona's smile faded as she was brought back to the worst of memories, witnessing her daughter run off with three horrific looking vipers.

"Why did she run off with them?" this time it was Ben's turn to speak up above the silence.

Carthona smiled sadly at him, "My daughter was not as she had been since her father passed on to the other realm, it was deeply emotional for both of us, but Shea swore that she would do anything not to end up as her father and lose herself in the process."

"So she became a criminal?" Ben asked in slight disbelief.

"You must understand, Impodene are good natured beings, but because of our connection with the mind, emotional pain is something very hard for us, especially in the young." Carthona explained, clasping her hands together as she fiddled with her bracelet. "It was a way for Shea to run from her pains, I do not blame her in the slightest."

Gwen raised an eyebrow, "that still doesn't explain why she returned to you."

Carthona glanced up at Gwen and beamed, "wise, young Anodite. It is true; my Shea did return to me a matter of days ago. She had been distressed, golden tears laced her eyes. She had come to me because she was tired of stealing; she wanted to turn herself in."

Gwen slipped closer to the edge of her seat, hands resting on her knees, "and what did you say?"

"How could I not agree with my only daughter? I complied with her request. She told me that she was going to allow herself to be taken by the Plumbers on her next attack, but even now I sense that she is with those horrific beings." Carthona shivered in disgust, eyes turning to a dangerous golden as her tail became rigid behind her back.

Gwen nodded a little numb with what she'd heard, "you know where she is?"

Carthona shrugged vacantly, "I always know where she is, who she is with and vice versa. Family have bonds that would seem impossible to those on your planet."

Gwen smiled in victory, "then you can tell us where she is? She does have goodness in her, I knew it!"

Carthona chuckled to herself before looking at Gwen again, "you really know nothing do you young Anodite?"

"Huh?" Both Kevin and Ben said together, sharing the same look of confusion as they had followed Gwen and Carthona's words.

Carthona rolled her eyes, "I saw your past through your eyes Gwendolyn. When my daughter's memory was restored so were her intentions, she follows Feroso like a father figure she will do anything to please him and in doing so she has tasted the poison."

"I'm not following, tasting the poison?" Gwen asked, arms folded in irritation.

"We have a saying on Ivalda, once you have tasted the poison you cannot go back. My daughter has a bond with Feroso that she has fooled herself into thinking she is his family." The trio noticed the small snarl that followed Carthona's words, the ice cold ring that came out with each sentence. They knew that Shea's departure was something she was not thrilled with and Gwen sighed sadly to that knowledge. "Carthona, I had a plan. When I met your daughter, she was nothing but innocence, those memories of her experiences with us, she would still remember them. I think if I was able to talk to her... I could get her to remember it all."

Carthona smiled, her fangs slipping over her bottom lip in joy, "I understand, I can see into your mind after all. My daughter was never that close to any of her other friends, you have proved yourself to make an effect on her." Carthona then slipped her wooden bracelet from her slender wrist and gently placed it into Gwen's open fingers. "Take this, I gave it to Shea whenever she needed the luck, it may just do the same for you. These words are from our old Impodene tribal language... it says love, luck and care." Carthona smiled happily, "I believe I can now help you in finding my daughter."

**Chapter 8: COMPLETE Stay tuned for my next chapter, hopefully there'll be some violence, fighting, aliens, vipers and maybe a bit of romance, I refuse to say between who. Make an educated guess. :) xx ~R&R~ xx  
**


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